[ EDITORIAL ]

Public Deeds: Gigs and Garlands

Published: Monday, April 8, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8:01 p.m.

On this day in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to control inflation related to World War II.

Facts

CORRECTION

The last garland in Monday's "Public Deeds: Gigs and Garlands" editorial incorrectly said that a Land Conservation proposal to amend the Florida Constitution may be placed on the ballot because more than 68,314 signatures have been collected for it. Those signatures are enough to qualify for Supreme Court review of the amendment. Assuming Supreme Court approval, 683,149 signatures will be required to be put the amendment on the November 2014 ballot.Correction applied to text and posted Monday, April 8, 2013, at 8:30 p.m.

The order froze prices across the nation and prohibited wage increases. Workers were not allowed to change jobs unless the change benefited the war effort.

The order also froze rates for common carriers, those transporting people or goods without restriction on clientele, and public utilities.

On this day in 1952, President Harry S. Truman nationalized the U.S. steel industry to prevent an April 9 strike against 10 steel-makers.

Truman cited the need for steel for the U.S. military in the Korean War.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 2 that Truman did not have authority over the steel mills. A strike for wage increases commenced and lasted 53 days.

GIG: To the Lakeland Police Department for lax investigation and oversight that resulted in a mistrial in a shooting prosecution and a declaration by State Attorney Jerry Hill that he would no longer use LPD Sgt. Felicia Wilson to give sworn testimony, without a witness to corroborate.

In two letters sent to Lakeland Chief of Police Lisa Womack, Hill blamed the mistrial on Wilson's testimony," The Ledger's Jeremy Maready reported in an "Eye on Polk" investigative article April 4.

The mistrial came in a case of Tonyo Evans being charged with shooting Tyrone Reddick in the foot.

Wilson was not able to recall details of the case and her investigation was incompetent, Hill said. He also said Lakeland Police officers made more than a dozen errors in working the case.

"When a nine-time convicted felon shoots another citizen and LPD handles the investigation as it did in this case, the citizens of Lakeland are not well served," Hill wrote to Womack.

Evans received a sentence of five years in prison vs. the 20 years that Hill said were deserved.

Womack replied to Hill that she has changed procedure to prevent a recurrence.

Wilson is on modified duty and her authority as a police officer has been suspended. The case is the subject of an internal investigation.

GARLAND: To the city of Lakeland for prevailing in a 2010 lawsuit by Atheists of Florida against the practice of starting City Commission meetings with a prayer. While prayers could be inappropriate by focusing on a single religious segment, the city modified its selection process to include a broad array of invocation speakers.

Also, a caveat appears on commission agenda sheets: "Any invocation that may be offered before the official start of the Commission meeting shall be the voluntary offering of a private citizen, to and for the benefit of the Commission," it says. "The views or beliefs expressed by the invocation speaker have not been previously reviewed or approved by the commission, and the commission is not allowed by law to endorse the religious beliefs or views of this, or any other speaker."

The case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich in 2012.

An appeal of the dismissal resulted in a ruling March 26 by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Lakeland acted legally after the changes it made, The News Service of Florida reported.

"The selection procedures of the invocational speakers invited to deliver an invocation at Lakeland City Commission's meetings pursuant to policies and practices … do not support the AOF's contention that Lakeland attempted to exploit the prayer opportunity to proselytize or advance or disparage any one faith or belief," the panel ruled. "Nor do these policies and practices have the effect of affiliating the Lakeland City Commission with any discrete one faith or belief."

The lawsuit's influence on broadening invocation-speaker selection was helpful.

GARLAND: To supporters of the Water and Land Conservation amendment proposal for being certified as exceeding the requirement of 68,314 signatures to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court. Assuming Supreme Court approval, 683,149 signatures will be required to be put the amendment on the November 2014 ballot.

The proposal would amend the Florida Constitution to require one-third of the real estate documentary stamp tax to be used on land- and water-conservation efforts.

<p>On this day in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to control inflation related to World War II.</p><p>The order froze prices across the nation and prohibited wage increases. Workers were not allowed to change jobs unless the change benefited the war effort.</p><p>The order also froze rates for common carriers, those transporting people or goods without restriction on clientele, and public utilities.</p><p>On this day in 1952, President Harry S. Truman nationalized the U.S. steel industry to prevent an April 9 strike against 10 steel-makers.</p><p>Truman cited the need for steel for the U.S. military in the Korean War.</p><p>The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 2 that Truman did not have authority over the steel mills. A strike for wage increases commenced and lasted 53 days.</p><p>GIG: To the Lakeland Police Department for lax investigation and oversight that resulted in a mistrial in a shooting prosecution and a declaration by State Attorney Jerry Hill that he would no longer use LPD Sgt. Felicia Wilson to give sworn testimony, without a witness to corroborate.</p><p>In two letters sent to Lakeland Chief of Police Lisa Womack, Hill blamed the mistrial on Wilson's testimony," The Ledger's Jeremy Maready reported in an "Eye on Polk" investigative article April 4.</p><p>The mistrial came in a case of Tonyo Evans being charged with shooting Tyrone Reddick in the foot.</p><p>Wilson was not able to recall details of the case and her investigation was incompetent, Hill said. He also said Lakeland Police officers made more than a dozen errors in working the case.</p><p>"When a nine-time convicted felon shoots another citizen and LPD handles the investigation as it did in this case, the citizens of Lakeland are not well served," Hill wrote to Womack.</p><p>Evans received a sentence of five years in prison vs. the 20 years that Hill said were deserved.</p><p>Womack replied to Hill that she has changed procedure to prevent a recurrence.</p><p>Wilson is on modified duty and her authority as a police officer has been suspended. The case is the subject of an internal investigation.</p><p>GARLAND: To the city of Lakeland for prevailing in a 2010 lawsuit by Atheists of Florida against the practice of starting City Commission meetings with a prayer. While prayers could be inappropriate by focusing on a single religious segment, the city modified its selection process to include a broad array of invocation speakers.</p><p>Also, a caveat appears on commission agenda sheets: "Any invocation that may be offered before the official start of the Commission meeting shall be the voluntary offering of a private citizen, to and for the benefit of the Commission," it says. "The views or beliefs expressed by the invocation speaker have not been previously reviewed or approved by the commission, and the commission is not allowed by law to endorse the religious beliefs or views of this, or any other speaker."</p><p>The case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich in 2012.</p><p>An appeal of the dismissal resulted in a ruling March 26 by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Lakeland acted legally after the changes it made, The News Service of Florida reported.</p><p>"The selection procedures of the invocational speakers invited to deliver an invocation at Lakeland City Commission's meetings pursuant to policies and practices … do not support the AOF's contention that Lakeland attempted to exploit the prayer opportunity to proselytize or advance or disparage any one faith or belief," the panel ruled. "Nor do these policies and practices have the effect of affiliating the Lakeland City Commission with any discrete one faith or belief."</p><p>The lawsuit's influence on broadening invocation-speaker selection was helpful.</p><p>GARLAND: To supporters of the Water and Land Conservation amendment proposal for being certified as exceeding the requirement of 68,314 signatures to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court. Assuming Supreme Court approval, 683,149 signatures will be required to be put the amendment on the November 2014 ballot.</p><p>The proposal would amend the Florida Constitution to require one-third of the real estate documentary stamp tax to be used on land- and water-conservation efforts.</p><p>The Legislature has stripped away similar funding in recent years.</p>